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THANKSGIVING SEMON. 



DELIVEIJED IN WHITEHALL, ILLIN()I^^. 



Thui'sday, December 7tli, !??:(>. 3 



i;y 



Kev. m. l. scehnck. 



r.-Ai.MS 120 : ;>— Tlie Loi'<l hatli done groat tilings for us ; u licruof w.j -.xw "l;u 



CArtROLLTO.V, ILLIXOrS: 
I'ATIUOT 1500K AND JO!J PI!l.\T!X:; l:;STAliMf!lIMi:NT. 

18GG. 






Tlie following Sermon is published at the rcf|ucst of many of tlie inhal)- 
itants of White Hall, bi^fo-'e whom it was delivered on the occasion of our 
Xiitional Thanksgiving, 7th December, 1865. 

If the Sarmon, iu its printed form, is mide useful beyond the occasion 
f )r which it was prepired, the credit will belong to those who called it fortli. 
If, however, it fail 3 to make the impresuon that attended its delivery, the 
public will remember that it was listened to under the aroused emotions of 
the First National Thanksgiving after the war. Nay, our feelings were raised 
to a high pitch of grateful praisj by our excellent Choir, under the charge of 
Mr. M. Worcester, who give several selected pieces with peculiar taste and 
power. 

But these, though contributing largely to the effect produced, cannot )>ii 
printed. " M. L. SCHENCK, 

Pastor of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church. 

White Hall, Illinois. 



THANKSGIYING SERMON. 



Psalms 126: 3 — The Lord hath done great things for us; whereof we 
are glad. 

During the past five years the position o£ the minister of 
the gospel, on occasions like the present, has been one o(: trial 
and much difficulty. The public mind has been deeply moved 
and excited by affairs of national interest; the people he served 
liivided into political parties, each party intensified by love of 
country, yet alarmed lest the other would sacrifice some prin- 
ciple and thus endanger the stability of our Union, until crim- 
ination and recrimination became the order, and political 
parties assumed the attitude of beligerents. Each watched 
the other with suspicious jealousy, and feelings became like 
highly combustible matter that needed but a spark to pro- 
duce a conflagration. Under such circumstances, and working 
for the benefit of all, the preacher must ply his office, while 
he was careful never to forget that the kingdom he sought to 
build up was not of this world, and that he had nothing to do 
with the mere politics and policies in the administration of 
human affairs. Yet it is an essential branch of the ministe- 
rial office, to explain and inculcate all the duties which God 
has enjoined, upon all persons, of every age, relation and con- 
.nection of life, .\mong these we are required to " put them in 
mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey mag- 
istrates." Alas! how wide spread and prevalent was the 
imagination that there is no moral evil in violating the lavrs of 
their country. Against this the minister must lift up his 
voice. " We must submit ourselves to every ordinance of man 
for the Lord's sake," " There is no power but of God; the 
powers that be, are ordained of God. Whosoever, therefore, 
resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that 
resist shall receive to themselves damnation." We are under 



4 THANKSGIVING SERMON. 

moral obligations to obey the rulers of the land. To teach 
thus does not call us into the field of politics. Yet our efforts 
in this behalf are too often stigmatized as political preach- 
ing, as though there was no religion in politics. I confess 
I have often trembled during the last fe^v years when called to 
discuss national questions ; not because I stood in doubt of 
my duty, or that I hesitated to perform it, but lest I should 
be misunderstood, and should provoke a prejudice in some 
minds, and thus alienate from my ministry those whose souls 
were precious. 

But it is no slight grounds of thanksgiving to God that I 
entertain no such fears to-day. The storm-cloud has spent 
its fury and passed over ; the atmosphere, no longer charged 
with electricity, is purified. We meet once more a united 
people under our so recently blood stained flag, in peace 
unity and fraternity, to praise and bless our God. "Our 
mouth is filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing, 
for the Lord hath done great things for us ; whereof we arc 
glad." 

I. Let us thank God that we are American citizens and live 
under a good governmenL Cast your eye over all the gov- 
ernments of the earth, view the foundation, principles, origin, 
mode of succession, of administration, and the practical work- 
ings of each. And when you have made a full and careful 
survey, you turn to your own ; with consciousness of superior- 
ity, you exclaim, this is my own, my native land. A govern- 
ment too rigid and absolute culminates in Tyranny, invested 
in the hands of one or very few, granting exclusive rights and 
hereditary honors and distinctions, while the great mass are 
but as the chess men on the board in the hands of the play- 
ers. A government too weak and lax, degenerates inco an- 
archy, where brute force levels all distinctions, authority 
ceases, and fortune, ability, character, worth, gire no supe- 
riority. Between these extremes, our government is happily 
balanced. It is not a monarchy, with all civil power in one 



THANKSGIVING SERMON. 5 

man's hand. It is not an aristocraci/, which commits power 
to a nobility or a few rich great men. It is not a democracy, 
where all civil power is lodged in a popular assembly ; but it 
is a mixed government, duly balanced, composed of three 
branches, the executive, the judiciary, the legislative, all di- 
rected by a well digested and written constitution. Here is 
governmental power to shield us from anarchy, for in its 
practical workings it is independent of the people. Here, too, 
are the checks and balances to keep us from Tyranny. All its 
provisions are made to combine the interests of high and low, 
of rich and poor, of rulers and subjects ; in a word, to promote 
the good of the whole community. Yet again, governmental 
power comes not to us by hereditary descent ; nor yet by 
usurpation, where might makes right, but by popular election. 
But why should I occupy your time to prove what every loyal 
heart admits. We have a good government, for which every 
heart gives thanks. 

II. fVe thank God to-day that the ivicked Rehellioii 
that so recently sought to subvert and overthrow our good 
Government has been crushed and its power destroyed. 

All rebellion is not wicked. All revolutions in which the 
people triumph over and change their rulers, must commence 
in rebellion. We have a right, in certain cases, to refuse sub- 
mission to those in authority. "Children should obey their 
parents ; yet there are cases in which they may refuse obedi- 
ence unto parents, and resist unto blood. Servants should 
obey their masters ; yet there are cases in which servants and 
slaves justly refuse obedience unto masters, and resist their 
authority. So between ruler and subject ; all submission to 
human authority is limited. This truth is recognized in our 
o\Yn Declaration of Independence. But fearful is the exer- 
cise of this right, for they who do so must assume accounta- 
bility to God as moral agents for such resistance, and con- 
front the power against which they rebel. " If servants re- 
sist their master without reasjn, they deserve to be punished. 
If children resist their parents without reason, they deserve to 
be punished. If subjects rise in opposition to government 
without reason, they deserve to suffer as criminals." 



6 THANKSGIVING SERMON. 

Try our late rebellion by these principles, and before God 
and their country they, i. e., the instigators, are not patriots, 
but rebels, and upon their guilty heads rests all the blood that 
has been shed for the last four years. They would rule or 
ruin. In seeking to be masters, they pretended to be Demo- 
crats. That party failing them, they abjure their relation 
thereto, divide its councils, secure its defeat at the polls, and 
celebrate the election of Lincoln, the opposition crodidate, 
with bonfires and rejoicing at Charleston, while they make it a 
pretence of grievance. Yea, while they were in power, and held 
the reigns of the General Government, they used its patron- 
age, its armament, its treasury, to foment the spirit of rebel- 
lion, to secure the ordinances of secession, and arm their ad- 
herents for the subversion of that Government whose patronage 
had given them power, whose gentleness had made them great. 
They would convert the temple of Liberty into a m t for 
Slaves — make the roll-call of Slavery at the monument of 
Jiunker Hill, the very cradle of Human Liberty. 

For two years they presented a front exceeding formida- 
ble; nay, they secured victories which made the heart of every 
lover of his country to be filled with apprehensions. Cast 
yourselves back to the 4th of July, 1863. Rebellion was then 
a portentious cloud, a horoscope of fearful auguries. The 
Mississippi was in her hands. We had not learned to confide 
in Gen, Grant, who was then bombarding Vicksburgh. To the 
long list of Generals of the Eastern army, McDowell, McClel- 
lan, Pope and Burnside, who had been successively entrusted 
with the chief command and relieved, was now added that of 
Gen, Hooker, General Lee, with a large force, was devasta- 
ting Maryland and Pennsylvania, threatening Harrisburg and 
Philadelphiha, and Gen. Meade, able but untried, was ap- 
pointed to command. Upon him, as he gave pursuit, the des- 
tiny of the nation seemed to hang. These armies were near- 
ing each other at Gettysburgh. This was all we knew when, 
^ith heavy hearts, we went up to celebrate the 4th of July. I 
confess to the sad misgiving that the then memorial day might 
be the last ; that ere another year our constellation of clustered 
stars might cease to illume the political heavens, and u«urpa- 



THANKSGIVING SERMON. 1 

tion forge for us and clasp upon us the manacles of the slave. 
While many hearts were thus musing upon the raven with the 
sable wing, how were we electrified and made jubilant in the 
praises by the welcome news that Lee was retreating rapidly 
before the victorious arras of Meade. And when, in a few- 
days, the surrender of Vicksburg was announced, our joy knew 
no bounds. God had again put a double honor upon the day. 
And it has been ours to honor these noble chieftains, Grant 
and Meade, who have from that day stood side by side, labor- 
ing without rivalr}^ in a common cause, until they unite with 
us in rendering praise to God for a conqured peace, a rebellion 
subdued — a Union and, we trust, fraternity restored. If the 
glad song of praise ascended to God for the united victories of 
Gettysburg and Vicksburg, how much more, when to these are 
added the Peninsular campaign — the victories cf Thomas and 
of Sheridan — the triumphant march of Sherman — the capture 
of Petersburg — the evacuation of Richmond — the surrender of 
Lee and all the armies of the Confederacy. Truly, while we 
see our nation come up out of the darkness, chastened by her 
trials, yet triumphant in victory, we exclaim : " God has done 
great things for us, whereof we are glad." 

Gladly would I pause here to wreath a chaplet for our citi- 
zen soldiery — the guard, the honor of our land. The path they 
trod shall hereafter become claasic ground, traversed by the 
historian, the novelist and the poet, who will embalm their 
heait of loyalty, and cause many gems of heroism, intelligent 
love of country, and true devotion, to live forever in the hearts 
of a grateful people. We bless God for them. How many 
died that the living might enjoy civil and religious liberty 1 
Let it be part, of our thanksgiving to visit with our sympathies 
and benefactions, those thus made widows and fatherless, in 
their afilictions. 

And our noble soldiery who return to civil life again to 
enjoy the fruit of their victories, we bless you in the name of 
the Lord. May no future act of your life ever tarnish the dis- 
tinguished honor that you were members of the armies of the 
Union. 

While to our able Generals and to our soldiery we Grant 



8 THANKSGIVING SERMON. 

the Meade of praise cheerfully and joyously, let us not forget 
to render a grateful and hearty tribute to one whose character 
shines with a lustre worthy of the best days of the Republic. 

As the days of the Revolution made historic a long list 
of worthies, but its crowning glory was to produce a Wash- 
ington, so now the central jewel, the polished diamond, whicli 
shines with a brightness all its own, around whom the great- 
ness of others are as gems in the setting, is the character of 
Abraham Lincoln. Illinois gave him to the nation. God had 
brought him to the kingdom for such a time as this — enabled 
him to appreciate his position, and to be equal to every exi- 
gency as it arose. With more than Roman firmness he pur- 
sued the path of duty, without the rashness of enthusiasm or 
fanaticism ; without the hesitancy of doubt or fear. Without 
policy, and despising intrigue, he counseled only of right, and 
pursued the path of integrity. What could policy accomplish 
when sailing amid breakers upon an unknown sea? How soon 
would fanaticism, by dividing the North, have wrecked us 
upon the very rocks we strove to shun ? or hesitation and de- 
lay have stranded us upon an unfriendly shore ? Then bis 
cool and intrepid magnanimity raised him above the excite- 
ment of angry and impetuous passion. Faithful and uncom- 
promising to the Union and the Constitution, yet was his heart 
all tenderness, to which revengeful feeling was a stranger. It 
was his joy to see the second week of April, 1865 ; to enter 
the evacuated capital of Rebellion ; to know and approve of 
the generous terms of surrender which Lieutenant General 
Grant had dictated to General Lee. He knew what that sur- 
render meant — the end of the rebellion, the end of civil war, 
the end of slavery, and the re-establishment o£ government 
and law all over the land. It was to him the happiest week 
of his life. 

For nearly one hundred years these United States have 
stood a national example of human liberty, of free and repre- 
sentative government by the people. In it the oppressed have 
found a home, the persecuted exile an asylum. God gave our 
Union to the world as hang in the political heavens a chande- 
lier of stars. With His blessing, they grew in number and 



THANKSGIVING SERMON. 9 

brilliancj : under the watchful eye of a loval people and the 
care of our successive Presidents, the original thirteen became 
thirty-four, increasing in brightness and magnitude until they 
■were counted as fixed stars. Still, for there are spots upon 
the sun, under the folds of our flag was found the institution 
of human slavery, whose light is as the darkness. This, it 
was hoped, would be mollified, and in time cease ; but, alas I 
it was to Liberty as the deadly Upas tree. Under it, and the 
ambition of its defenders, the stars upon our Southern arm 
began to pale. As one after another went out by the ordi- 
nance of secession, the monarchies of t'-ie old world became 
jubilant, expecting the whole constellation to go out m dark- 
ness. And every lover of Liberty trembled to see the sad 
eclipse. At such an hour Lincoln is called by the people, 
pledged by solemn oath to maintain the Union and the Consti- 
tution. Trusting in God he enters upon the task. Those 
wandering stars can only be recalled to their orbit by the 
strong arm of power. He invokes the sword, and terribly it 
fulfills its office. We may not know the restless solicitude, 
the weight and responsibility that pressed upon his mind 
and heart during the four long years of struggle. That he 
was honest and true, no one can doubt. Patient, persevering, 
watchful, he lived to see success to crown his eff"orts, slavery 
to struggle and perish under his deadly wounds, each star re- 
stored to its place, the nation to start again in its career of 
greatness, and the whole galaxy to shine with unclouded, nay, 
with tenfold brilliancy in the cause of Human Liberty, to 
illumine and gladden the down-trodden nations of the earth- 
There may they abide until, like Bethlehem's star, they become 
the harbinger of the millenial reign of the Prince of Peace. 

• When that success was reached on the surrender of the 
Confederate forces, "how great was the joy ; the people almost 
ran wild with excitement, men embraced each other in public 
places, and with uncovered heads reverently acknowledged the 
hand of God." Yet how terrible was the revulsion of feeling 
when " the victory that day was turned into mourning unto all 
the people," as the heavy tidings rolled over the land, that 
Abraham Lincoln had perished by the hand of an assassin. 



i'O THANKSGIVING SERMON. 

He lived to accomplish bis life's great mission. He died at the 
zenith of this glorj, and by the hand ot an enemy for whom 
he was preparing a Proclamation of Amnesty. While we 
laourn his death, we bless Uod for the lesson it teaches. Our 
form of Government had been tested by many years of pros- 
perity, until we have nothing to fear from the recklessness of: 
liberty. Then followed years of adversity, when treason and 
rebellion tested her defenses by assailing the unity and exis- 
tence of the nation. She bides the proof. And now in the 
death of our Chief Magistrate such are her provisions for suc- 
cession in office that President Johnson is our leader, and no 
function of Government suffers by the change. God has 
taught us to trust not in man whose breath is in his nostrils ; 
to look beyond the instrumentality to the Lord of Hosts. 
Where are now all those fears that harassed us on the death of 
Lincoln? Let us learn to have faith in the living God, and 
remember in hours of deepest gloom " that behind the 
clouds the heavens are full of stars." Let us, by prayer ar.d 
supplication, with thanksgiving, remember before God our 
Chief Magistrate, whose proclamation has called us together 
this day ; that God may give him wisdom to reap the rich 
harvest that has ripened to us by the war. That he may so 
act as to reconstruct on right principles, to deepen our attach- 
ment to good Government, and make rebellion odious in time 
to come. Let us remember that he holds not the sword in 
vain, but is God's minister to execute wrath upon them that 
<lo evil. That he is under indispensable obligation to give 
rebels and traitors a just recompense of reward. Rebellion 
is a heinous crime, and deserves a severe punishment. While 
he should be lenient towards many, and apportion punishment 
to guilt, nay, be magnamious to a fallen foe, yet the general 
.good of society requires him to make example of some, at 
least, of the more bold and malignant enemies of Govern- 
ment, lest tender mercy to an enemy, may prove cruelty to 
virtuous and peaceable subjects. 

Let UB pray, too, that God may give the South wisdom 
and grace to submit to their altered circumstances. The im- 
mediate effect of emancipation upon both master and slave 



THANKSGIVING SERMON. 11 

will be severe. Nay, few present stronger claims upon our 
sympathy, our charity, and our benevolence. 0! that our 
Congress tliis week assembled may, under God, legislate wise- 
ly for the common good. To them will belong the high honor 
of legislating for the whole Union, without a rival and oppos- 
ing Congre.'s ; to show their generosity, in welcoming the re- 
turn of our erring Southern brethren, and in facilitating such 
return by enactments that breathe a love of country broad as 
our national domain, a lofty patriotism that holds "Liberty 
and Uraon, One and Inseperable," and which shall invoke 
from our Lite convulsion, peace and fraternity. 

Upon them, too, it will devolve to declare the Constitution 
of the United States so amended as to abolish Slavery. This we 
sought not for, but gladly accept it, as the gift of God. For 
the last sixty years, because of Slavery, our National Legisla- 
tion has been by continued compromise. It was this that taxed 
th3 giant minds and tested the loyalty of our great men, 
of Adams, of Benton, and of Clay. To this the noble Web- 
ster became a political martyr in his speech on the fugitive 
Slave bill in 1850. It is this has produced the disgraceful 
scenes upon the floor of Congress for the last twenty years. 
It grew until it culminated, in the great rebellion. With 
it, the Spirit of Slavery expired, and lies buried in the dis- 
honored and unknown grave of Booth. To reach this day, is 
a cause of devout thankfulness to all parties in our Land. 
What sectional animosities will it allay ? Slavery can no 
more force upon us the odious enactment for the rendition of 
fugitive Slaves. Abolition can no more taunt the lover of 
the Constitution with the violation of a, higher law. She can 
no longer say " that the only exodus for the American Slave 
is over the ruins of the American Church and the American 
Union." Her inflamed speeches can no longer be a fire-brand 
in all the South. I honor the noble men who, in the past 
generation, fought for the Union in the spirit of compromise, 
while I congratulate the Nation that this fruitful cause of dis- 
cord — this necessity for compromise — has ceased to exist. 

In conclusion, think not, ray brethren, that among the 



12 THANKSGIVING SERMON. 



^1 



great things God has done for us, I could allow y^u to forget 
that there are other rich and discriminating favors that lay 
us under the most endearing obligations to gratitude and 
praise. «« 

Let us he glad and bless His name, that He has preserved *^ 
our lives, and health, and social enjoyments, while so many 
fathers, and mothers, and brothers, and sisters, widows and 
orphans, have been sorely bereaved by sickness and the sword, 
of dearest relatives, connections and friends. That emerg- . - • 
inf from the war, we have witnessed no embarrasment of.. ^ - 
business or trade. Keither has God "given us our bread by 
weight, nor our water by measure ;" but on the coijtrary, ha:i 
caused the earth to bring forth by handfulls, and as winter 
comes so gently it finds us richly supplied with all the neces- 
saries of life. Let us, then, in worship and glaf^ness, muke 
this day a feast to the Lord. 

Does not all nature praise Him ? The golden da3^3 of 
Autumn just past, poised between heat and cold, have sung 
his praises. Ye luxuriant prairies, praise Him who replen- 
ishes your lap with never failing crops of herbage, and forests 
of waving corn. Ye fertile fields, praise Him v,'ho enriches 
your Irjad plains with ripened harvests, and calls forth the 
stafi" of life from your furrows, and thus blesses the labor 6f 
the husbandman. And shall man satisfy himself v,'ith the 
gifts of Providence, and say, " I am glad I have got them I" 
and yet fail to lift up his voice with thanksgiving ; and give 
glory to God ip songs of gratitude? "Praise ye the 
Lord." 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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